ECBG are delighted to announce the keynote speakers for this year's Celebration of Business exhibition in Ely Cathedral on Tuesday 24 April 2018

Louise Nicholls

Louise Nicholls has worked for Marks and Spencer for over 20 years, and has been leading the retailer’s ethical trade programme for over a decade. She formed part of the small team that developed the company's ground-breaking Plan A, a 100-point, five-year plan to address a wide range of environmental and social issues. Louise was also instrumental in setting up the supplier data exchange initiative, Sedex. Much of her time is spent travelling the world to meet and interact with M&S’ global supply base, as well as speaking at global business responsibility and sustainability summits.

Lord Bird MBE

The Big Issue
Founder and Editor-In-Chief

Born into poverty, John Bird’s life has included spells as a thief, young offender, artist and poet. Now an established iconoclast, activist and publisher, John Bird is the force behind The Big Issue, the world's most successful street magazine. He is an inspirational business leader with an outstanding record of using business as a tool for social change. At a time when Corporate Social Responsibility is preoccupying business leaders and consumers alike, John Bird offers an authoritative, fresh approach, and some original perspectives on the interaction of business and society. Bird was nominated for a life peerage in October 2015 and sits as a cross bench peer.

Interested in attending this year's event? Many businesses enjoy the resulting promotional and networking opportunities, as well as the challenge of confronting the question of how their business activity contributes to the well being of our community. It is especially pleasing to see the range of businesses represented, small and large, local, regional national and international, and from all sectors.

We're also thrilled to be running this year's event alongside the Chamber of Commerce's Grow Your Business workshop.

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Our Mission

Ely Cathedral Business Group believes that there is a strong correlation between the health of the business sector, and the well being of the communities in which those businesses operate. The purpose of ECBG is to explore this relationship and to strengthen the correlation: to help businesses succeed and thereby make our communities stronger